The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread focused on Margaret Thatcher who passed away today in England - April 8, 2013.

We do have a thread on British Prime Ministers but some have received much more fanfare than others and there is a preponderance of material coming out today that is worth keeping in one location for research and reading.

Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013): A Personal Recollection

Forbes Magazine

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesziri...

by Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher's impact on the NHS - The Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/...

Democracy Now:

Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013): Tariq Ali on Late British PM’s Legacy From Austerity to Apartheid

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/4/8/...

Regarding Margaret Thatcher - The Guardian - Live Blog and Updates:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/bl...

You are welcome Bryan - I always loved the Mitterand's quote about Thatcher (who I liked):

Margaret Thatcher had the “eyes of Caligula and the lips of Marilyn Monroe”.

New York Times Tributes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/wor...

CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/08/world/e...

Essential Margaret Thatcher:
http://www.margaretthatcher.org/essen...

World Reacts to Death of Margaret Thatcher - Al Jazeera:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/...

Globe and Mail: How Margaret Thatcher Changed the World for the Better
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commen...

I also love this quote from Margaret Thatcher herself:

"I lunched with Indira Gandhi in her own modest home, where she insisted on seeing that her guests were all looked after, and clearing away the plates while discussing matters of high politics," - Margaret Thatcher

A gesture that had touched Margaret Thatcher in India
Monday, Apr 8, 2013, 20:32 IST | Agency: IANS (DNA)

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/1820263...

Washington Post: (with video)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/w...

Greenwald in The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfr...

The Daily Beast: Margaret Thatcher Was Right About the Euro
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...

The above shows Thatcher in all of her glory - video

No State Funeral for Margaret Thatcher - her wishes (The Guardian)

No state funeral for Margaret Thatcher
Former prime minister will get a ceremonial funeral – one step below a state funeral – at St Paul's Cathedral, says No 10

by Caroline Davies
guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 April 2013 10.52 EDT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/20...

Margaret Thatcher through the years - ABC
http://abcnews.go.com/International/s...

World Leaders Pay Tribute to Margaret Thatcher
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-09...

The Old and the New in 2010

Margaret Thatcher has died



Top news: Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died from a stroke Monday morning, her spokesman announced.

The first female prime minister in her country's history, Thatcher came to embody a turn toward a free-market political program that sought to unleash economic dynamism through an aggressive program of privatizations and tax reductions. Thatcherism -- as her political program became known to both her supporters and detractors -- would throw off the heavy hand of the state and seek a Britain with greater vitality. Her perhaps defining moment came in 1984 when she broke a major strike launched by the miners union, a victory that consolidated her political power and represented a triumph over the country's strike-prone unions.

The woman who came to be known as the Iron Lady matched her pioneering domestic agenda with a muscular foreign policy that saw Britain come to blows with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. And just as she refused to cede British sovereignty in the South Atlantic, she remained deeply skeptical toward the European project and laid the groundwork for Britain's taciturn relationship with the European Union and its decision not to adopt the euro. Together with Ronald Reagan, a man who would become a close friend, she emerged as a canny leader in the Cold War, recognizing early on that Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms presented an opportunity for the West.

But to her detractors, Thatcher's free-wheeling market ideology came to embody an uncaring political philosophy, one willing to sacrifice at the altar of economic dynamism a state apparatus directed toward the common good.

Regardless, she is likely to go down in history as Britain's greatest post-war prime minister.

Source: Foreign Affairs Mail

Baroness Margaret Thatcher Dies

LONDON — Margaret Thatcher, a dominant, divisive and yet revered figure in British politics whose impact on British life and society was enduring and contentious, died on Monday of a stroke, her family said. Politicians called her influence on her country’s destiny among the greatest since Winston Churchill, and the authorities said she would be buried with military honors.

“It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother, Baroness Thatcher, died peacefully following a stroke this morning,” a statement from her spokesman, Lord Tim Bell, said, referring to her son and daughter.

President Obama said in a tribute released by the White House that Mrs. Thatcher’s achievement as the first woman to serve as Britain’s prime minister taught “our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered.” He added that the “world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend.”

Mrs. Thatcher, 87, served as prime minister for 11 years beginning in 1979. She was known as the Iron Lady, a stern Conservative who transformed Britain’s way of thinking about its economic and political life, broke union power and opened the way to far greater private ownership.

The daughter of a grocer, she was leader of Britain through its 1982 war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands and stamped her skepticism about European integration onto her country’s political landscape for decades, famed for her succinct rejection of three European proposals for closer unity with the words “No, no, no.”

Mrs. Thatcher had been in poor health for months, and close friends said she was suffering from a form of dementia that hindered her ability to remember some of the key moments of her own career, including her close relationship with President Ronald Reagan. Within moments of the announcement of Mrs. Thatcher’s death by Lord Bell, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron offered tributes to what Mr. Cameron called “a great leader, a great prime minister, a great Briton.”

Mr. Cameron cut short a visit to Spain and France — billed as the beginning of an effort to resolve his own troubled relationship with much of the Continent — to return to Britain.

Mr. Cameron’s office said that in line with her family’s wishes Mrs. Thatcher would not be accorded a full state funeral. “We can announce that, with the Queen’s consent, Lady Thatcher will receive a ceremonial funeral with military honors,” according to a statement from 10 Downing Street. “The service will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral. A wide and diverse range of people and groups with connections to Lady Thatcher will be invited. The service will be followed by a private cremation. All the arrangements being put in place are in line with wishes of Lady Thatcher’s family.”

Buckingham Palace said the Queen was “sad to hear the news” and would be sending a private message of sympathy to the family.

Lawmakers said Mrs. Thatcher retired from public life about two years ago. Her career in politics ended in 1990 when her own Conservative Party forced her from office and replaced her with John Major, who said Monday that she had “brought conviction back to politics.”

An assessment in the conservative Daily Telegraph said, “She will go down in history not only as Britain’s first female prime minister, but as the woman who transformed Britain’s economy in addition to being a formidable rival on the international stage.”

“Lady Thatcher was the only British prime minister to leave behind a set of ideas about the role of the state which other leaders and nations strove to copy and apply,” the newspaper said.

Speaking to the BBC, Henry A. Kissinger, the former United States secretary of state, said Mrs. Thatcher was a “great leader” and a “good friend of the United States.” She was known particularly for her close working relationship with President Reagan, with whom she shared a profound ideological rejection of communism.

But she also won the respect of some interlocutors in Moscow, most notably Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, who described her on Monday as “a politician whose word carried great weight.”

“Our first meeting in 1984 marked the beginning of a relationship that was at times difficult, not always smooth, but was treated seriously and responsibly by both sides,” Mr. Gorbachev, 82, said, according to Reuters. “We gradually developed personal relations that became increasingly friendly. In the end, we were able to achieve mutual understanding, and this contributed to a change in the atmosphere between our country and the West and to the end of the cold war.”

But the ideological divisiveness of her legacy was also evident in reactions to the news of her death.

Paul Kenny, a labor union leader, said Mrs. Thatcher would be “remembered by many for the destructive and divisive policies she reigned over.” And Lindsey German, a peace advocate who opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan long after Mrs. Thatcher’s political eclipse, said she “laid the basis for policies which wrecked the lives of millions in Britain” and “should also be remembered as a warmonger.”

“She led, alongside Ronald Reagan, the escalation of the cold war,” Ms. German said. “She introduced cruise missiles to Britain and fought the Falklands war.” The hostility resonated, too, with Gerry Adams, the leader of the nationalist Sinn Fein party that shares power with pro-British unionists in Northern Ireland.

“Her Irish policy failed miserably,” he said.

Well-wishers left flowers outside Mrs. Thatcher’s elegant London home, though British news reports said that for much of this year she had been living at the Ritz Hotel in central London as the guest of its owners.

The reports said she had moved to the hotel after a hospital stay that left her frail and in need of constant care that required the space offered by a hotel suite compared with her townhouse home in London’s Belgravia district.

In assessing her impact, Richard Carr, a political scientist at Anglia Ruskin University, said: “To supporters, she changed Britain from a nation in long-term industrial decline to an energetic, dynamic economy. To opponents, she entrenched inequalities between the regions and classes and placed the free market above all other concerns. Our politics, and many of our politicians, have been forged in her legacy.”

That view was borne out in remarks from opposition Labour figures, including the party’s current leader, Ed Miliband, and former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who acknowledged her long reach in British politics.

“She will be remembered as a unique figure,” Mr. Miliband said. “She reshaped the politics of a whole generation. She was Britain’s first woman prime minister. She moved the center ground of British politics and was a huge figure on the world stage. The Labour Party disagreed with much of what she did, and she will always remain a controversial figure. But we can disagree and also greatly respect her political achievements and her personal strength.”

“She also defined the politics of the 1980s,” he said. “David Cameron, Nick Clegg and I all grew up in a politics shaped by Lady Thatcher. We took different paths, but with her as the crucial figure of that era.”

Mr. Blair said, “Some of the changes she made in Britain were, in certain respects at least, retained by the 1997 Labour government, and came to be implemented by governments around the world.”


Source: NY Times

Great Jill - there are so many great historic articles, videos coming out on Baroness Thatcher's passing that it seemed imperative to open up a thread.

Thanks for putting this up,Bentley. I just got home and started to put it on the British PM thread when I saw this......this is much better. The Iron Lady had quite an effect on politics.

The Path to Power

Margaret Thatcher

Synopsis

In a prequel to The Downing Street Years, Thatcher describes her childhood, Oxford education, early entry into politics, and rise to power in Parliament, sharing insights into the influences that shaped her life and political career.

The Downing Street Years

Margaret Thatcher

Synopsis

The long-awaited first volume of the memoirs of ex-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This volume provides a revealing look at an extraordinary woman, at the often top-secret world in which she traveled and the major events that took place during her tenure.

Yes, I think so too Jill - and she did.

Thanks Bryan for the add.

There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters
by Claire Berlinski

Synopsis
Great Britain in the 1970s appeared to be in terminal decline—ungovernable, an economic train wreck, and rapidly headed for global irrelevance. Three decades later, it is the richest and most influential country in Europe, and Margaret Thatcher is the reason. The preternaturally determined Thatcher rose from nothing, seized control of Britain’s Conservative party, and took a sledgehammer to the nation’s postwar socialist consensus. She proved that socialism could be reversed, inspiring a global free-market revolution. Simultaneously exploiting every politically useful aspect of her femininity and defying every conventional expectation of women in power, Thatcher crushed her enemies with a calculated ruthlessness that stunned the British public and without doubt caused immense collateral damage.Ultimately, however, Claire Berlinski agrees with Thatcher: There was no alternative. Berlinski explains what Thatcher did, why it matters, and how she got away with it in this vivid and immensely readable portrait of one of the towering figures of the twentieth century.

Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage
by Nicholas Wapshott

Synopsis
An insightful character study of the most important Anglo-American friendship since FDR and Churchill

It's well known that Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were close allies and kindred political spirits. During their eight overlapping years in office, the U.S. president and the U.K. prime minister worked together to promote lower taxes, deregulation, free trade, and an aggressive stance against the Soviet Union.

But according to Nicholas Wapshott, the Reagan/Thatcher relationship was much deeper than an alliance of mutual interests. Drawing on interviews with those closest to them, as well as on hundreds of recently declassified private letters and telephone calls, Wapshott depicts a more complex, personal, and sometimes argumentative relationship than has previously been revealed.

On the surface they had little in common, in either background or personality. Reagan, the son of the town drunk, used his genial charm to win over his enemies and always focused on the big picture rather than details. Thatcher, the daughter of a strict middle-class shopkeeper, was a hard worker and master of details who would rather be respected than liked.

Yet from their very first meeting in 1975, they recognized each other as political soulmates, committed not just to conservative principles but to getting things done. Over the years, they discussed and debated strategies, took strength from each other, celebrated each other�s triumphs, and commiserated with each other�s failures. Wapshott shines new light on this unique friendship and how it changed the world.

The Collected Speeches of Margaret Thatcher
by Margaret Thatcher

Synopsis
By the time she stepped down in 1990, Mrs. Thatcher had become one of her generation's outstanding political leaders, and perhaps the most powerful woman in the world. Possessing an iron will, she matched words with action in confronting the crises of the day -- in economic affairs, in the Falklands War, in Northern Ireland, in the great twilight struggle of the Cold War, and finally in Europe. Under her leadership, Britain broke out of its decline and self-doubt to emerge once more as a major player on the international stage.Margaret Thatcher put intense effort into her major speeches. As a result, they are uniquely revealing of how she developed that clear vision which would transform Britain and shape international politics in the late 20th century. They begin with the speeches she made as part of her campaign to mold the ideas of the Conservative Party in Opposition. They continue with the famous addresses in which she expressed her convictions as prime minister and include recent lectures in which she gives her current -- and controversial -- thoughts about the world today.

All great adds Alisa and Bryan - all great adds on the Military History thread.

If I may add a personal note here; I was a Young Conservative, present at Kensington Town Hall, London, when she gave her famous 'Iron Lady' speech. She was then at her best, her peak. The atmosphere was electric. As a life-long Conservative Party member I have two observations to make; I regret her passing; she was a most significant political figure by any standards and as a human being I care for her soul. Having been part of the UK political landscape till my sojourn in the Gulf I found the latter Thatcher dogmatic in extremis and ultimately that, sadly like a Greek tragedy led to her downfall as party leader. Ideology had never been a Conservative Party trait. I am happy and proud that I saw her on several occasions, sad I never met her personally, though I have had the honour of meeting some of her ministers. Happy for her successful marriage with Denis Thatcher. Happy for many positive things she did for Great Britain and the demise of the Iron Curtain. Sad for inflexibility on some significant domestic issues; but then politicians, human and fallible, do wish to go on and on! I regret her passing; Sic transit gloria mundi! A new era will dawn in politics. She was very influential and significant.
The above is a personal as much as an historical perspective by one who has seen her in action.
God bless her soul.

Harvey, good to hear from you. What a great note of tribute, thanks for adding your reflections about her. She was influential and significant indeed.

That was a heart warming tribute, Harvey.......very insightful as well.

Thank you Alisa and Jill; this was an unconsidered, knee-jerk reaction. As a ten-eleven year-old-boy I witnessed, thanks to BBC, Churchill's funeral, another great British leader who was Prime Minister again during my birth, I guess. Baroness Thatcher is different in that I held very minor party office during her term and experienced something of her live. My thesis was what I felt and feel now. Live. I dare say what I have stated could be put much better. It was, as stated a personal feeling - and instant. literature can come later!

Thanks Harvey. I found Margaret Thatcher to be an amazing woman with much grace and conviction.

Harvey no apology needed - glad to hear from you again. Are you still in the same location or have you moved since.

Thank you Harvey. I was also moved by Margaret Thatcher's death. Also delighted to hear from you - are you still in Oman?

It is an era which I fear has ended -

Hi Bentley et al.
Back in Q8 in my 'old' job @ the al-Maidan Cultural Centre after a stint at the British Embassy here... the world is circular somehow:)
Kind regards to all!

As-salamu alaykum Harvey - it surely is.

Another great quote:

Ambassador Henry Catto: "She had on so much hair spray she could repel small arms fire."

Very funny Bryan.

Margaret Thatcher: Queen leads mourners at funeral

Source: BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics...

Women Prime ministers are tough!

Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography

by Charles Moore

Synopsis
The authorized biography of the longest-serving—and first female—Prime Minister of the twentieth century, and one of the most influential political figures of the postwar era.

Charles Moore’s biography of Margaret Thatcher, published after her death on 8 April 2013, immediately supersedes all earlier books written about her. Capturing her as a historical figure and, for the first time, a three-dimensional one, this book gives unparalleled insight into her early life and formation, especially through her extensive correspondence with her sister, which Moore is the first author to draw on. It re-creates brilliantly the atmosphere of British politics as she was making her way, and takes her up to what was arguably the zenith of her power, victory in the Falklands. (This volume ends with the Falklands Dinner in Downing Street in November 1982.) Moore is clearly an admirer of his subject, but he does not shy away from criticizing her or identifying weaknesses and mistakes where he feels it is justified. Based on unrestricted access to all Lady Thatcher’s papers, unpublished interviews with her and all her major colleagues, this is the indispensable, fully rounded portrait of a towering figure of our times.

Thanks, Alisa. This should be the book to read since all of the reference material used has never been available before. A good addition to the TBR list.

The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, from Grocer's Daughter to Prime Minister

by John Campbell (no photo)

Synopsis:

The Iron Lady, the definitive Margaret Thatcher biography, is available just in time for the movie starring Meryl Streep as one of the most infamous figures in postwar politics.

Whether you love her or hate her, Margaret Thatcher's impact on twentieth-century history is undeniable. From her humble, small-town upbringing to her rise to power as the United Kingdom's first female prime minister, to her dramatic fall from grace after more than three decades of service, celebrated biographer John Campbell delves into the story of this fascinating woman's life as no one has before. The result of more than nine years of meticulous research, The Iron Lady is the only balanced, unvarnished portrait of Margaret Thatcher, one of the most vital and controversial political figures of our time.

Thanks Jill

Another look at the political life of the Iron Lady.

Margaret Thatcher: Power and Personality

by Jonathan Aitken (no photo)

Synopsis:

A strong and sometimes divisive figure in British and world politics, Margaret Thatcher was the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century and the only woman to ever hold the office. Drawing from an abundance of new, previously unpublished material from the Thatcher Archive at Churchill College, Cambridge, Jonathan Aitken’s fresh and original biography is a lively and perceptive exploration of the personality that dominated conservative British politics for more than 10 years and her profound and worldwide impact on the historical tapestry of her time. At once positive and critical in its assessment of her governance, Margaret Thatcher: Power and Personality is crafted from the author’s longtime personal relationship with his subject, his eyewitness account of public and private episodes in her life, and more than 100 interviews with the former Prime Minister’s political colleagues and close personal friends. Penetrating and insightful, it chronicles one of the most remarkable political lives of our time.

Her life in her own words.

Margaret Thatcher: The Autobiography

by Margaret Thatcher

Synopsis:

A newly edited, single-volume commemorative edition of ‘The Path to Power’ and ‘The Downing Street Years’; this is Margaret Thatcher in her own words.

Margaret Thatcher was the towering figure of late-twentieth-century British politics. Now following her death in 2013, this is her account of her remarkable life.

Beginning with her upbringing in Grantham, she goes on to describe her entry into Parliament. Rising through the ranks of this man’s world, she led the Conservative Party to victory in 1979, becoming Britain's first woman prime minister.

Offering a riveting firsthand version of the critical moments of her premiership – the Falklands War, the miners' strike, the Brighton bomb and her unprecedented three election victories, the book reaches a gripping climax with an hour-by-hour description of her dramatic final days in 10 Downing Street.

Margaret Thatcher's frank and compelling autobiography stands as a powerful testament to her influential legacy.

An upcoming book:
Release date: June 30, 2015

The Queen and Mrs Thatcher: An Inconvenient Relationship

by Dean Palmer (no photo)

Synopsis:

This is the remarkable story of how the two most powerful women in Britain at the time met and disliked each other on sight. For over a decade they quietly waged a war against each other on both a personal and political stage, disagreeing on key issues including sanctions against South Africa, the Miners' Strike and allowing US planes to bomb Libya using UK military bases. Elizabeth found the means to snub and undermine her prime minister through petty class put-downs and a series of press leaks. Margaret attacked her monarch by sidelining her internationally, upstaging her at home and allowing the Murdoch press to crucify the royal family. This book is a window into the 80s, an era when Britain was changed beyond recognition by a woman who made 'Thatcherism' the defining word of the decade.

Another:
Release date: November 3, 2015

Thatcher's Trial: 180 Days that Created a Conservative Icon

by Kwasi Kwarteng (no photo)

Synopsis:

Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in 1979, the first woman to hold the position, and the first woman in the Western world to lead a nation.

Within two years she was beset by troubles, and it seemed her historic government would be short-lived. In 1981 unemployment had risen to levels not seen since the 1930s and public finances foundered in their worst state since 1945. The 'no hope' budget delivered by Chancellor Geoffrey Howe in March marked the beginning of a six-month period which witnessed pressures in Northern Ireland, hunger strikes, urban riots and unprecedented unrest within the Conservative Party.

By the Cabinet reshuffle of 14 September, in which mutinous grandees were removed, Thatcher had firmly reasserted her authority. This extraordinary six-month period would come to define the Conservative Party's most successful and divisive modern figure: to her detractors a harsh, uncaring and dogmatic leader who made the country a more unequal, materialistic and brutal place; to her supporters, the saviour of a Britain which was becoming an ungovernable socialist state. The 1983 general election would prove a triumph.

Kwasi Kwarteng here captures this shopkeeper's daughter's unique leadership qualities - from her pulpit style and New Testament imagery to her emphasis on personal moral responsibility - in some of the most adverse conditions facing any statesman in modern peacetime to offer a compelling study of arguably the most significant six months in British post-war history.

Thanks, Jerome.

Be warned, this book is not complimentary of Thatcher.

When the Iron Lady Ruled Britain

by Robert Chesshyre (no photo)

Synopsis:

Returning to Britain in the mid-1980s after spending several years in the U.S. as the Observer's Washington correspondent, Robert Chesshyre found a country shockingly altered by the rule of "The Iron Lady," then at the height of her popularity. Disturbed by the Britain he now found himself in, he set out to travel the length and breadth of the UK to report on the state of the nation and the lives of ordinary people. The parallels between Britain's predicament in the 1980s and in 2012 have never been so stark, and Chesshyre's book casts a critical eye on the developments of the 1980s that were to shape "Broken Britain" 25 years later: the ever-expanding gap between rich and poor, the boom and deregulation of the markets, the explosion of inner-city crime, and the gulf between north and south. Originally published in the UK as The Return of a Native Reporter to widespread critical acclaim in 1987, this new edition includes a piece describing a revisit to the former Easington Colliery in 2010 and an extensive new foreword by the author. In its scope, its relevance, and its insight, it is a profound and shocking reminder that "what we sowed then, we reap now."

The second volume of Moore's biography:
Release date: January 5, 2016

Margaret Thatcher: Everything She Wants

by Charles Moore (no photo)

Synopsis:

Margaret Thatcher was the longest-serving Prime Minister of the twentieth century and one of the most influential figures of the postwar era. Volume Two of Moore's acclaimed authorized biography covers the central, triumphal years of her premiership, from the Falklands to the 1987 election.

Based on unrestricted access to all Lady Thatcher's papers, unpublished interviews with her and all her major colleagues, this is the indispensable portrait of a towering figure of our times.

Thanks Jerome, Jill

Not for Turning: The Life of Margaret Thatcher

by Robin Harris(no photo)

Synopsis:

Margaret Thatcher is one of the most iconic politicians of the twentieth century. With the possible exception of Winston Churchill, no other Prime Minister has had such an impact on modern British history. Like it or not, her radical social and economic policies have made Britain the country it is today. Without Margaret Thatcher there could have been no New Labour, no Tony Blair and no David Cameron.

Now Robin Harris, for many years Thatcher's speechwriter, trusted adviser and the draftsman of two volumes of her autobiography, has written the defining book about this indomitable woman. He tells her extraordinary life story, from humble beginnings above her father's grocer's shop in Grantham, her early days as one of the first women in Westminster who became known as 'Thatcher milk-snatcher' during her days in the Ministry for Education and then as Prime Minister. We follow her through the 'Winter of Discontent', the tribulations of the miners' strike and the Falklands War. And Harris writes a stunning account of her exit from power and tells of her life after number 10.

Margaret Thatcher: Shaping the New Conservatism

by Meredith Veldman (no photo)

Synopsis:

art of The World in A Life series, this brief, inexpensive text provides insight into the life of Margaret Thatcher.

The second daughter of a provincial grocer, Margaret Roberts Thatcher was not born to privilege or power. She was not an original thinker; few of her teachers regarded her as particularly clever. What she did possess, however, was a remarkable physical constitution (she needed little sleep and was never ill), a phenomenal capacity for hard work, and a resolute ideological certainty alloyed with political adaptability and a populist sensibility. As one of the central founders of New Conservatism, Thatcher fought to shatter the post-World War II political consensus, the mainstream agreement that the central state must regulate national economic and social life in order to ensure full employment and the citizen's welfare from cradle to grave. Thatcher came of age when the postwar consensus was at its strongest.

By the time she walked onto the world stage as leader of Britain's Conservative Party in 1975, however, the ideals of social citizenship forged in the tumult of World War II had begun to break down under the pressure of economic crisis. The resulting political confusion gave Thatcher the chance she needed. As prime minister of Britain from 1979 to 1990, she initiated the move of vast areas of the economy from public or state control to private ownership. More generally, Thatcherism both fed and fed upon a growing skepticism about state activism and governmental power--although, paradoxically, under Thatcher's guidance the power of Britain's central state grew, in some areas enormously.

One of Us: Life of Margaret Thatcher

by Hugo Young (no photo)

Synopsis:

Written to coincide with a Channel 4 series on Lady Thatcher, this biography is based on intimate conversations between the Prime Minister and the major politicians of the period and Hugo Young. It traces her life from being an apprentice under Harold Macmillan and her participation in the government of Edward Heath, to her unquestioning destruction of the Conservatism of the 1950s and 1960s and her emergence as a senior stateswoman of the western world.

For the fan of Baroness Thatcher, this book covers her most important speeches.

The Collected Speeches of Margaret Thatcher

by Margaret Thatcher

Synopsis:

By the time she stepped down in 1990, Margaret Thatcher had become one of her generation's outstanding political leaders, and perhaps the most powerful woman in the world. Possessing an iron will, she matched words with action in confronting the crises of the day in economic affairs, in the Falklands War, in Northern Ireland, in the great twilight struggle of the Cold War and finally in Europe. Under her leadership, Britain broke out of its decline and self-doubt to emerge once more as a major player on the international stage. Margaret Thatcher put intense effort into her major speeches. As a result, they are uniquely revealing of how she developed that clear vision which would transform Britain and help shape international politics in the late 20th century. They begin with the speeches she made as part of her campaign to mold the ideas of the Conservative Party in Opposition. They continue with the famous addresses in which she expressed her convictions as prime minister and include recent lectures in which she gives her current, and controversial, thoughts about the world today.

The late PM writes her thoughts about how the 21st century will change how we interact politically.

Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World

by Margaret Thatcher

Synopsis:

"I wanted to write one more book -- and I wanted it to be about the future" .Few leaders have stood on the brink of change to the extent of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Now this commanding world figure draws upon her unrivaled political experience to comment on the threats that democracy faces at the dawn of the new millennium and on the role that Western powers should play in the world's hot spots, especially in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

Reflecting on the lessons of the Cold War, Thatcher outlines the foundation of U.S. dominance and its responsibilities as the only global superpower. She offers prescient observations about the dangers posed by Balkan instability, rogue states, Islamic extremism, and international terrorism -- and suggests strategies to counter them. In addition, she examines current trends in Russia, China, India, the Far East, Europe, and, particularly, Great Britain. Noting how every contemporary problem evokes demands for a global solution, Thatcher also warns of overreliance on international institutions at the expense of nation-states.

Statecraft is an incisive treatise on power in the age of globalism, written by a legendary world statesman with a matchless combination of principles, experience, and shrewdness.

One man's opinion.

Margaret Thatcher: The Myths Exposed

by David Brandon (no photo)

Synopsis

Even after her death, Margaret Thatcher has continued to excite bitter controversy. Her supporters felt that she could do no wrong. Many others condemned her policies as divisive and destructive. Here it is argued that she was a pragmatic rather than a principled politician, that she in fact performed innumerable u-turns, and that she had more luck than she merited. Despite how some choose to portray her now, opinion polls during her time indicated she was one of the twentieth-century's most unpopular Prime Ministers and in each election she fought as leader, more people voted against the Tories, than for them. Eventually she was ditched by her own Conservative Party, when they realised she had become an electoral liability. Much that was wrong with the "broken Britain" that the Con-Dem coalition talked about can be traced back to policies that were initiated during the time that Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. This book is an attempt to put the record straight.

The Iron Lady had a way with words!

The Margaret Thatcher Book of Quotations

by Grant Tucker(no photo)

Synopsis

The Iron Lady's political career spanned five decades and her influence on world politics is undeniable. Margaret Thatcher is the most quoted British political leader since Winston Churchill and this unique collection of quotations are the most memorable. Some quotes are funny, many are inspirational, most are thoughtful—but they are all unforgettable. As well as Margaret Thatcher's own words, the book contains many quotes from her political allies and opponents, as well as from the foreign leaders to whom she invariably gave a good handbagging.

I love this quote from Baroness Thatcher.

If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim.

(Source: Brainyquotes

A short bio of Sir Denis Thatcher, husband of PM Margaret Thatcher

Born: 10 May 1915
London, United Kingdom
Died: 26 June 2003 (aged 88)
London, United Kingdom
Resting place: Royal Hospital Chelsea, London, United Kingdom
51.4874°N 0.1582°W
Nationality: British
Political party: Conservative
Spouse(s)
Margaret Kempson (m. 1942; div. 1948)
Margaret Roberts (m. 1951)
Children: Mark, Carol
Alma mater: Mill Hill School
Occupation: Businessman
Religion: Church of England
Awards : Bt.MBE, TD
Military service:
Allegiance: United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch: British Army
Years of service: 1938–65
Rank: Major
Unit: Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, Royal Artillery
Battles/wars: Second World War

(Source: Wikipedia)